The Mayor Race

Red runs for mayor of Possum Lake.

Cast (in order of Appearance):, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Segments: The Possum Lodge Word Game, Red's Campfire Songs, Handyman Corner, Red's Sage Advice, New Member Night, Adventures With Bill, Talking Animals

DVD: Red Green: Stuffed and Mounted, Vol. 6; The Red Green Show – 1998 Season

Watch the episode on YouTube

DVD Commentary by Steve Smith
{from Stuffed and Mounted}

STEVE SMITH: Every once in a while, we try to have a bit of a political overtone to the show, and in this one, "The Mayor Race", we kinda have some fun with the whole election process, 'cause, now, I think there is something funny about going for the vote and trying to get people to vote and has the results come in, but once the results are in, as we've all seen, the humor comes to a crashing halt.

Segment Summary
See also: Transcript

Plot: It is election time in the Possum Lake area, and Red is so frustrated about Wally "Kickback" Kibler, the current town mayor, that he decides to run for mayor himself. He assigns Harold to be his campaign manager. The first thing they need is a campaign slogan. Red then comes up with a list of campaign promises, but Harold doubts that they can be achieved, especially with the debates coming up. The candidates' debate soon arrives, with Dalton moderating. To everyone's surprise, Wally is nowhere to be seen; only Red shows up, but to his surprise, Harold decides to run for mayor as well. Everyone also learns that Red had somehow prevented Wally from showing up. In any case, Red is so upset at the idea of running against a family member that he drops out of the race. Eventually, everyone realizes that not only has Wally won the election, but he also tried to burn Harold in effigy. They also learn that Wally is continuing to support the lodge.

Opening Scene: Red shows a way to jack up a car using a post hole.

The Possum Lodge Word Game: Mike tries to guess the word "married" to win a lottery ticket.

Red's Campfire Songs: Marry a widow.

Handyman Corner: Red tries to power the lodge electricity with a car alternator.

Red's Sage Advice: Men who are loners or alone should consider themselves tough, "married-tough".

New Member Night: Earl brings in a new member, Elmo Ray Thornton, who had been abducted by aliens and has scars on his backside to prove it.

Adventures With Bill: Bill has so much difficulty backpacking in the woods that he tries to put his shopping cart, only to wind up in the cart himself.

Talking Animals: Ed brings in a muskrat, but has a lot of trouble with it.

Explanations

 * As explained in the Stuffed and Mounted DVD commentary in another episode, the main reason for replacing Garth Harble with Ed Frid was that Garth's actor, Derek McGrath, lived in Los Angeles and couldn't continue to travel to Canada for the show.

Trivia

 * This episode is the first appearance of Ed Frid.

Real-World References

 * In the Word Game, Mike thinks Red might have gotten his wedding ring from the Home Shopping Network, a cable TV channel that sells merchandise to viewers by phone.
 * Jerry Springer was indeed mayor of Cincinatti, OH, from 1977 to 1978, long before he produced The Jerry Springer Show.
 * Red's line ending in "Smells like victory" is a reference to a famous line in the 1979 film Apocalypse Now. The original line was about the smell of napalm, and has been re-quoted in many forms since.